And in the not too distant future, there will be many Monday morning work conversations that go something like this: “Er, Soooo… what did YOU do this weekend…” followed by a smirk and maybe a knowing nod or three from a few others hanging around that coffeemaker after being up way too late the night before playing too much Payday 2. Sure, it’s not a game for everyone, but if you’re looking for something more like a modern day cops & robbers deal and not another military shooter with a guaranteed few million sales on day one (and super crowded lobbies to boot).
The original Payday was a blast, but this sequel adds so much more cool stuff that it feels like a reinvention in some respects. 505 Games and Overkill Software have a hit here for you would be digital bank robbers, so do them a favor and pay actual dollars to snap this one up, I say…
It’s finally here and it’s going to be a game genre fans should buy for a few key reasons from the mixed art styles working amazingly well, the stupidly deep amount of stuff to do in this installment (it’s the biggest Tales game to date), the “open world” feel to the gameplay experience plus all the usual stuff that has fans of this series sometimes buying specific consoles to play a single game in the long-running franchise. Tales of Xillia is all that and more, folks.
I’m betting at some point over the next day or three Mr. Baba and the dev team will probably be sitting at home (well, at their separate homes, as I’d hate to know what happens with such a large bunch of people living together biting their nails at the same time each Tales game is released) and wondering right about now how many fans in the US and other territories this is coming out in will be snapping up this one in the Standard, Limited or Collectors Editions. I need to get this one myself, as my backlog is SO huge this year that it’s worth doing a flowchart on (and I did – it’s terrifying). Anyway, if you’re an fan of anime/mamga-styled Japanese RPGs, yeah, you need to buy this game.
I hadn’t realized that this had shipped out in Japan (well, it’s officially out tomorrow there… wait, it’s tomorrow there already, right? Oh, my head hurts…) until I poked around in my inbox and spotted these Game Empire HD play through videos. There are four so far, but I’ll only run two here so as to not ruin too much of the fun. I absolutely LOVE that the menus are in English, which means I can import this and play it (but I’ll hold out for the US version just to support Xseed Games here) and it certainly looks as if Suda 51 and grasshopper manufacture had a blast making this one, so strap yourself in and enjoy the ride. Er, this isn’t for the kiddies, kids – so break out the blindfolds or go put them in the broom closet with a flashlight, a box of Popsicles and a funny hat or two.
Atlus may be struggling with its recent financial woes in Japan, but the company is still swinging for the fences hard and knocking it out of the park with some great titles on assorted platforms. Case in point, Dragon’s Crown, already a hit in Japan and headed to the PS3 and Vita in North America on August 6. George Kamitani and his team at Vanillaware have created an absolutely, outrageously gorgeous game that’s a throwback to classic side-scrolling arcade hits as well as a mighty challenging solo and online play experience. I know a few folks with the import and yes indeed, they’re very pleased with the game (and the AMAZING deluxe art book that came with it). Anyway, I’m looking forward to getting my hands on both versions, as I hear they’re different in a few key ways. Of course, I still want a proper Princess Crown remake or sequel one of these days, but at this point, Kamitani and company can make paper bag puppets and I’ll throw money their way…
If you’re a fan of horror but not a gamer, you might not initially be interested in Amnesia: The Dark Descent because it’s a video game and you’ll probably have preconceived notions of running around with a gun and shooting up zombies or whatever until your brain walks out of your left ear in protest. On the other hand, all you need to do is watch that trailer above, smile (and perhaps shiver a little) before boogieing over to gog.com to check if your computer can indeed run this supremely scary gem from the fine folks at Frictional Games. System requirements are pretty low, so I think some of you folks without beefy gaming rigs but a recent to decent 3D card can get this going and spend the next few days under the bed after you’ve played. Or tried to play but got too damn freaked out and couldn’t take another step.
Yeah, the game is THAT creepy. To me, at least… I think it will scare the crap out of you as well – give it a go and let me know what you think…
While a small but vocal bunch of PlayStation 3 owners have been ranting away for Rising Star Games to contract Access Games to stop working on their upcoming Xbox One exclusive D4 to do some fixes for Deadly Premonition: The Director’s Cut, that’s not going to happen any time soon. On the other, stranger hand… the game was recently surprised-dropped onto Steam Greenlight for a potential PC release with even MORE content and wonder of wonders… it was approved in what seems to be record time. Wow. Now, I’ll be the first to say I’m shocked and thrilled at this news, but I’m not expecting the PC version to be “perfect” by any stretch of the imagination. Even higher resolutions and tweaked controls aside, the game will still look intentionally cheesy and probably have the same driving setup for the cars as the PS3 version did (which is much better than the original Xbox 360 game from a few years back). Anyway, this is indeed great news and soon, you horror game fans looking for something TRULY weird and memorable will all get a little FK in your own coffee when DP:TDC is finally let loose for PC. Once I get an actual release date, I’ll let you know…
Well, it SHOULD be up and ready to buy shortly, as I’m getting error messages when I try to download my review code, bleh. This seems to always happen with PSN, as it seems that SCEA updates it during the day with content as opposed to at a fixed time, so one has to keep trying until that code is accepted. Oh well, I guess I can try again in the next few hours while I have access to a decent connection. Otherwise, it’ll be a case of “Tomorrow is another day!” Which reminds me: memo to Scarlett O’Hara, you’re pretty and all… but man are you a dope sometimes! “Fiddle dee dee!” indeed…
Overkill and Starbreeze’s upcoming co-op centric crime game sequel, Payday 2 has gone from a digital download to a physical package to a nice $59.99 retail game that’s packed to the rafters with goodies and content. Usually, these Limited or Collector’s Editions manage to tick me off for a few reasons, but I actually like this set of goodies in the package:
505 Games looks as if they have a huge sleeper hit here, as the original was very well received and this sequel adds a RPG-like element to the gameplay and customization that should boost its sales even further among veteran players as well as new potential virtual robber types. As long as you’re locked in at home playing this, you can’t be on the street pulling off any real crimes, right?
Of course, that’s a little joke there, but I know some will watch that trailer above and have a mild to moderate seizure over the cops ‘n robbers stuff going on. Breathe, I say… breeeeeaaaaaathe. No, that’s hyperventilating, and doesn’t count – you can keep that up, though… you’ll pass out in a few seconds.
If you’ve never played Shantae previously, that’s because you missed out on buying a copy when it was on the GameBoy Color (or you didn’t pirate it, you scallywag!), thus not having the pleasure of playing one of the best 2D platformers on the handheld. Well, as of this Thursday she’s baaaaaack, and this time it’s on the eShop for the 3DS. I actually like that the dev team didn’t gussy their girl up in a shiny HD coating, as the game was so well animated and colored for the GBC that it still holds up today as a prime example of a platformer at its finest. The best thing is you can now snap this one up for a song and NOT have to pay something like $100 or more for a copy of the game (it got one production run, but was VERY hard to find even back when it was initially released). Or maybe you can buy up $100 worth of codes and give them out to lucky friends who happen to own a 3DS or 3DS XL, you nice person, you…
The fine folks over at Game Empire HD are really going crazy with the EDF 4 gameplay videos. My own copy of the game is still on the way, so I’ve been keeping an eyeball on their YouTube page and taking notes galore on some of the tougher stages. Everyone has their own play style and in fact, EDF games encourage you to experiment with those random weapon drops until you get comfortable blasting bugs to bits with different gear you’ve collected. Of the four classes, the Wing Diver (or Pale Wing, or Pale Wing Diver if you really want to get formal) is the most agile thanks to her ability to fly and some of her really powerful close and ranged weapons. The tradeoffs are a very low starting armor and many weapons relying on the same energy source as her flight pack, so managing your energy is key in making sure you live to the end of a mission.
While this is my favorite class, I may not play the game through the first time with the lady. In the previous EDF games she’s appeared in (EDF 2/EDF 2 Portable and EDF 3 Portable), once you get some of her better to best weapons, she’s pretty untouchable save for confined spaces such as caves and tunnels where she can be damaged more easily by some of her own ordinance. I have the feeling I’ll go for the old reliable EDF Trooper for a bit until I get one of the Bound Shot weapons (which fire “bouncing” rounds – great for clearing out tunnels packed with giant spiders and ants and does double duty outdoors against large robots) than perhaps poke around with the new Fencer class before going with the winged one. That Air Raider I’ll save for last, as he seems to be the most challenging to use (although there are already a few exploits for the character). OK, back to playing vulture near my mailbox. I may be scaring the postman away, but he knows I get a lot of stuff sent this way so he can take the glaring and third degree when I don’t get a package I’m expecting…
"DESTROY ALL FANBOYS!" 